


The Giving of Roses and Other Human Mating Rituals

by imimmortalagain



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Cute, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24523648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imimmortalagain/pseuds/imimmortalagain
Summary: T’Pol had specifically invited her to her quarters.And she didn’t know how she’d stay calm for it. It’s easier to swallow infatuation and care and this twisting knot in her stomach when they’d had other things to focus on. Easier things to focus on. But they’d just be eating dinner. Which meant no sly glances over to her because T’Pol would notice them. No flirting because T’Pol wouldn’t be lost in some mathematical problem or working diligently on next week’s crew schedule, she’d be completely focused on Hoshi.
Relationships: Hoshi Sato/T'Pol
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	The Giving of Roses and Other Human Mating Rituals

Hoshi wrung her hands outside of T’Pol’s quarters. She couldn’t help the nerves that panged in her stomach, this was new. Sure, they’d spent time together over the past few months. They’d gotten closer over Vulcan adjectives or English nouns or nights where they just silently enjoyed each other’s company. And yeah, sure they’ve had dinner before together but it had always been after long nights of working where dinner would be the last thing on Hoshi’s mind and T’Pol would try to remind her that she ‘required nutrition’ at that time and Hoshi would just hush her until she’d finish whatever task she’d been working on. 

But never like this. T’Pol had specifically invited her to her quarters. 

And she didn’t know how she’d stay calm for it. It’s easier to swallow infatuation and care and this twisting knot in her stomach when they’d had other things to focus on. Easier things to focus on. But they’d just be eating dinner. Which meant no sly glances over to her because T’Pol would notice them. No flirting because T’Pol wouldn’t be lost in some mathematical problem or working diligently on next week’s crew schedule, she’d be completely focused on Hoshi.

She supposed that she had gotten comfortable with sly flirting. The first time had been completely an accident, they’d been talking about sign language and Hoshi had let out the comment, ‘I’m sure you’re good with your hands.’ She grew flustered but T’Pol hadn’t caught on. At that point she realized that T’Pol probably didn’t have a good enough grasp of the English language and its culture to understand flirting. So she’d let out little flirts here and there just because she could. T’Pol never reacted to them, she was just neutral, always just neutral. She liked the rush she got from doing it, the way her stomach tightened and nerves bloomed there. The way she felt so dizzyingly happy after flirting with T’Pol. She never expected for it to be returned just, she liked being able to express her emotions without truly expressing her emotions.

But if tonight was completely dedicated to having dinner together, no strings attached, then it would be near impossible to continue on with her flirting. 

She checked the time, 19:00 on the dot. She took in a deep breath and made her presence outside of T’Pol’s quarters known, a small whistle could be heard from outside the door, then steps and finally-

The door opened and T’Pol was behind it with flowers. Hoshi’s eyebrows drew together, her mouth dropped, and she couldn’t stop the way her eyes darted from the roses, the red roses in T’Pol’s hands to her face. What was going on here?

“Was my research incorrect?” T’Pol asked, the flowers lowering a fraction.

Hoshi wasn’t sure how she was supposed to pass words over her tongue, but she finally grasped the first word to reach her mind out of T’Pol’s question, “Research?”

“According to my research on human culture, specifically mating rituals, flowers are proper etiquette for ‘dates’.”

Hoshi’s eyes grew wide and she couldn’t help but feel like she was soaring, “Date, um, um? You want to go on a date with me?”

“Were you not aware of my intentions when I asked you to dinner last week?” Her eyebrow quirked. Her voice was so mellow, so steady, no sign of nerves, no sign that she had just asked someone out and it caused Hoshi to pause. This couldn’t be some prank from Trip, could it’ve been?

She bit her bottom lip as the soaring excitement melted away and she stumbled over her words, “You, you, I, um, sorry, You want to go, uh, go on a date, date with me?” They felt clunky leaving her mouth.

“Yes. Am I incorrect in the belief that you had been flirting with me? Because if you do not want to-”

“No, I-uh.” So, T’Pol could tell the entire time that Hoshi had been flirting with her. She could tell the entire time. Hoshi could feel heat rush to her face, “I do. Yes. I was, um, flirting with you and I, uh, do want to go on a date with you, this date.”

T’Pol held out the flowers, “These are for you.”

Hoshi reached for them and her fingers lightly brushed against T’Pol’s fingers. 

Warmth, emotional warmth, passed through the connection, memories, memories of Hoshi and then Hoshi’s of T’Pol mingled in the mental space between them, ideas and emotions and care and attraction and desire welled between the connection. Some of the emotions had been foreign, calculated, different. they were restrained but intense in a way that only made sense to feel. Intense in a way that should have overwhelmed Hoshi, would have overwhelmed her if it had been anyone else, but no it felt intense in a way that she craved.

Once their hands broke apart Hoshi could have sworn that the corners of T’Pol’s mouth were upturned, if only slightly. She wrapped her fingers delicately around the stems of the roses and pulled them close to her chest. She gave a small smile back to T’Pol before leaning down to smell the flowers. 

They were beautiful.

This was going to be beautiful.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> im accepting one-shot requests for these two over at my Tumblr: @nonbinaryriotchild
> 
> thanks for the read!


End file.
